Cygnus cargo spacecraft leaves the ISS on February 8, 2019. February 25, the apparatus burned down in the atmosphere of the Earth.
Cargo spacecraft Cygnus completed the last mission for the delivery of cargo to the ISS on February 25, completing a deadly dive into the earth's atmosphere. The ship launched to the orbital station in November on the Antares rocket, delivering about 3,350 kg of materials and scientific equipment.
A cargo ship from Northrop Grumman was attached to the station for 81 days. It was disconnected on February 8 from 2500 kg of garbage for fiery disposal when re-entering. But the immersion was not completed immediately, because the apparatus had additional tasks. For example, he deployed several small satellites in earth orbit for various clients. Cygnus burned over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. The mission for the delivery of cargo was the 10th for the duet Cygnus and Antares under the contract CRS-1 with NASA. The next April flight will be the last in a specific transaction. Deliveries under the CRS-2 contract will begin only in the fall.
SpaceX also performs commercial missions to deliver to the ISS for NASA using the Dragon cargo capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket. Unlike Cygnus, Dragon is reusable, lands in the ocean, and is therefore capable of delivering equipment and samples to Earth.
Also now, SpaceX is developing a dragon version of the crew in a separate contract with NASA. The first test flight is scheduled for March 2. If all goes well, the first astronauts should start in July.
